Am I Shit Outta Luck?

My family and I rent a house in the Orlando area. Orange County recently (this past year) passed some ordinance that underground heating oil tanks needed to be removed. Without our knowledge, our landlady scheduled for an Arthur Environmental Group to come in and remove the tank.

What she (and we) wasn't aware of... our year's worth of oil (purchased in Feb) was also in the tank. She assumed, because we have a secondary tank, that everything is ok. Now a few weeks back, when the temperature dropped to the 40's overnight, I discover my heat doesn't work. Knowing that I had bought enough oil to last till Feb, I investigate and find the aboveground tank empty. The contractor's information isn't listed anywhere and it took awhile for my landlady to get the #'s to me. When I finally got a hold of them, they told me this never happens, and that there's no recourse we can pursue, and that our landlady should have let them know about the oil (the guy took a real rude tone with me, basically letting me know that Shit Happens).

Our oil was disposed of (instead of being transferred) and I have had to purchase more oil to replace it. Is the contractor liable? My landlady? Am I shit outta luck? Sounds like a major communication problem between the contractor and my landlady and from my landlady to us, but I'm furious about this.

About $200.
It's mainly for my daughter. She's 3 and it gets chilly at that end of the house, especially overnight in Jan-Feb. Sometimes footy pajamas and extra blankets don't cut it, when it can get down to freezing temps. I wouln't feel safe about area heaters in her room either.

Well, in FL, when you only need heat over night over a period of 2 months or so...

Course, why the house doesn't have electric heat is beyond me. Built in '66?

And no, my landlady isn't really reasonable. She always insists that maintenance is my responsibilty and has threatened to raise my rent, because I get such a good deal in my neighborhood.

Guess I'm gonna have to eat it. Wasn't planning on this extra expense right now. Shit.

I like the tauntaun idea better.

Now where's my landlady?

We're on a month-to-month now, but she doesn't want to be bothered with making repairs, etc. She even told me at one point that I'm welcome to make any changes I want to within reason (re-painting, etc), because she just plans on completely renovating or tearing the place down after I move out.

She told my wife (who called about leaking pipes) that we should call a plumber and take care of it ourselves because we're getting such a good deal on the rent. There are other houses in the neighborhood that are going for $200-400 a month more, but they are also vacant, and have been.

We were also lucky enough to find a large enough place that would allow pets (finding a place for a 70lb 1/2 Rottie wasn't easy) without a pet deposit or fee, but did I also mention that the ancient AC (I think it's original) brings my electric bill up to nearly $600 in August?

Ugh. Rent's expensive in Orlando, especially for the size we need (home) and our pets. I'm afraid of looking for a new place at the moment and locking ourselves in for another year (and having to worry about deposits, fees, pet rules, etc), considering the fact that I may not want to stay with the company I'm with right now (this fact also put a kibosh on our house shopping this fall).

Also, did I mention that I've lived here for 2 and 1/2 years and never met her face to face? She's not a hands-on kinda gal for sure. She owns a restaurant on Park Ave and knows dick about the home and how it operates (heat, etc). It's obvious she's just using the place as a real estate op or alternate source of income.

Additionally, the weekend we moved in (record breaking temps at the end of July) in '05, the AC and refrigerator were both broken. After a 20 hour drive in a U-Haul...